Total pages in book: 129
Estimated words: 125257 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 626(@200wpm)___ 501(@250wpm)___ 418(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 125257 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 626(@200wpm)___ 501(@250wpm)___ 418(@300wpm)
On that mic drop, the hockey stud cups my cheek, drops his mouth to mine and brushes a tender kiss across my lips. My brain goes whoosh as he claims me in front of the whole wedding party, but especially the guy who broke up with me in front of the whole hockey arena just over three weeks ago.
The kiss starts out innocent enough—just a hint, a tease, a promise. But it’s also not at all innocent, since I’m learning Lake smells like cedar and tastes like fresh mint. I discover, too, that his stubble scraping my face makes my nipples stand at attention. That his hand on my back is nothing short of foreplay.
He murmurs against my mouth, a rough, sexy rumble that thrums through me. When he breaks the kiss, he shoots me a sly smile, just for me. “The moment called for it.”
“It did,” I think I say. I’m not sure if I’m speaking or thinking. It’s hard to do either now that I know there’s a world where knee-weakening, toe-tingling kisses exist. I don’t think I knew of this planet’s existence before today. But I’m an intrepid explorer and I want to traverse it. Map it. Study it. What else can he do with that mouth? His hands? His hard, cut body?
As I’m contemplating this new universe, I spot Jameson slinking off, his back to us.
And everything feels right on Earth too.
I recover speech, so I lift a hand toward Lake’s handsome face, pushing some soft, thick hair away, then whispering in his ear, “Score one for the fake daters. It’s one point every time you successfully nail a dating hurdle.”
“We’re going to run up so many points, beautiful,” he murmurs back against my neck, sending a shiver through me again.
“I’d like a hat trick, please.”
“Consider it done,” he says, then we pull back and he gives a wry smile, mutters fuck it and comes in for one more kiss. On my cheek. It’s tender and swoony, and I’m seeing stars.
But when he pulls back from my cheek, I’m seeing Caroline, staring bug-eyed at me, with a million questions in her eyes. And zero patience.
She grabs me by the elbow and marches me past a gurgling stream, around some bonsai trees, then out of sight of the guests.
Uh-oh. I’m in trouble. When she finally stops by a pagoda, she’s grinning. “Well played. That was a brilliant preemptive strike. You went above and beyond the call of duty with tongue and everything.” She parks her hands on her hips. “But what the hell?”
“What the hell what?” I ask, playing innocent.
She jerks her thumb toward the scene of the strike. “You didn’t tell me you and your plus-one leveled up.”
She’s staring. Waiting. Tapping her espadrille. “Oh, well,” I say, buying some time because I don’t know that I want to start telling anyone that our dating is fake, especially Caroline. The more people know, the more likely someone will let it slip. What if she whispers it to Parker one night in bed? What if he tells Jameson, and then Fresh Face finds out, and then Caroline’s perfect wedding is a mess? But I don’t want to lie to her either though, so I repeat her words back to her. “You wanted me to neutralize the threat with a preemptive strike.”
She arches the most well-groomed brow in the land. “Nothing looked neutral about that. Does that mean you’re dating for real now?”
I give a non-answer. “Everything just happened so quickly.”
“Really?”
But I feel completely truthful as I say, “Yes,” since this past week has been a whirlwind.
She beams with pride. Just positively glows. “It was because of me, right? When I said you should get back out there. That I didn’t believe in licking your wounds.”
Thank you, big sister, for taking credit. “Yep. You’re my inspo.”
“Good job,” she says with a nod. “I told you you’d need to show you’re moving on and you did. All I can say is keep it up.” She inches closer, narrows her eyes. “Because I want him to suffer, and you having the time of your life with a hot athlete is the best kind of suffering we can wreak on him.”
Sounds like a good kind of suffering if you ask me. “So you want me to keep making out with Lake in public? Just making sure I’m clear on this.”
“Public, private, wherever,” she says breezily, but then dips a hand into the pocket of her pressed navy slacks and fishes out a tissue. “But wipe that kiss off your lips and go get a makeup refresh from Fallon.” She freezes for a second, then smiles strategically. “Maybe we need to show how well the lipstick holds up with a kiss.” Her eyes turn to moons. “That’s it! I’m a genius! We’re going to do a segment on the true lipstick test of a bride and groom—the wedding kiss. Let me go tell Margot about my brilliance.”